Here we go again with this auld 02 19TDI Elegance.

 As the title says no 2nd gear.Driving to Galway yesterday,just out of Sligo,87 miles down the road,tried to shift into 2nd,no go.As my ever patient wife had hospital appointment,we continued on,hoping it might just be a glitch.

 Anyway,250 miles later,still no 2nd.

 What I have done,reset the cables and rattled the shift arm around the place while she who must be obeyed,applied pressure with gear stick.

 I have looked around the forum and google,no one seems to have the exact problem,though I did find plenty where the shift was sticky,I had that as well with 3rd.

  So I'm guessing,as all other gears select,not the clutch.So am I right in thinking replacement gear box,250K+ on the clock.

 Apart from the gallon of petrol and a match,all advice and suggestions appreciated.

If you disconnect the gear cables can you manually select 2nd from operating the mechanism on top of the box? If you can, then it may well be that there is an issue with the lever itself. You could drain the oil out of the box, through a filter paper (like a coffee filter) to see if there are any metallic particles in it, that may indicate something internal has broken.

If you disconnect the gear cables can you manually select 2nd from operating the mechanism on top of the box?

No can do.I had planned on servicing her tomorrow evening and was going to change the gear oil as well to see if it will help with the grinding when changing into 3rd,didn't do it everytime.But since I lost 2nd,it shifts no bother at all

Yippee,now when I select first,I get reverse :swear:

Replacement gearbox in and everything working,Jesus,what a job,I haven't pulled spanners like that in years.............